THE YOUNG EDUCATOR AT TALLAHASSEE 29

the majority of the public schools had closed, so that the
teachers could receive an additional education. At least one-
half of the students who attended this spring course were
twenty-five years old or over.
 Chapel was held every morning at the college. Before
athletic contests, pep meetings, with yells and songs, would be
held in the auditorium and there was always the usual excite-
ment on the campus when a victory had been won. Dr. Mur-
phree himself, with one or two other members of the faculty,
made frequent personal donations and bought the uniforms
for the football boys the first year of the team. At the end
of each year, he would give the teams an annual banquet at
his home. The college's great rivals at this time were the
Bainbridge town team, the University of Florida at Lake City,
the East Florida Seminary at Gainesville, Georgia Tech and
Stetson. There were no girls' teams, their only form of
athletics being tennis.
 Social life on the campus was never given the same impor-
tance as study and athletics. There were no fraternity dances.
On the average of once a week Dr. Murphree would come out
to the college for dinner, and in the dining room, which was
the largest room on the campus, he would give a short talk on
astronomy, education or some worth-while subject. These
talks, the annual athletic banquet, and attendance at the yearly
Junior-Senior "ball", constituted the part Dr. Murphree took
in the social life of the campus.
 In 1905, the Buckman Act, passed by the State Legisla-
ture, merged the six institutions into two, the State Woman's
College at Tallahassee and the State University at Gainesville.
 From 1897 to 1905 there were many evidences of the
splendid manner in which the young president was conduct-
ing the affairs of the College. Students of the College in
that day are unanimous in praising Dr. Murphree as a leader
who was both kindly and firm, capable and broadminded. The
versatility of President Murphree found an outlet in his close
personal direction of most of the college student activities.
He was particularly adept in coaching dramatics. This tal-
ent did not find an opportunity to express itself in his later
years, so taken up was his time with larger duties, butstudents